Compact sauna unit

ABSTRACT

A compact sauna unit, capable of use by one person alone is provided as a self-contained room having its own floor, ceiling, walls, and door, assembled reasonably snugly while enabling a small amount of leakage of air from outside into the room at the joints between parts and around the door. In the room is a seat to hold a person with his feet spaced well above the floor. A heater unit is contained in the door and comprises a housing defining a plurality of generally vertically extending ducts with air inlets at the lower end and air outlets at the upper end. One duct is an inner duct adjacent the inner surface of the door for keeping the inner surface of the housing cool; an outer duct lies adjacent the outer surface of the door for keeping that outer surface cool; and a central duct is sandwiched between the inner and outer ducts and separated from them by thin metal walls. Electrical rod heating means in said central duct supplies heat; in fact, the sole source of heating for the sauna unit, also serving to provide heat to the inner and outer ducts through the thin metal duct walls, for causing upward movement of cooling air therethrough. There is an air exhaust conduit through the door, vertically above the heater unit, for exhausting a controlled amount of air from the room. Typically, the door has a window spaced above the heater unit, and the exhaust conduit is provided along the upper edge of the window, comprising a horizontal conduit between a vertical inlet passage leading down from an inlet above the horizontal conduit and a vertical outlet passage leading up to an outlet above the horizontal conduit. The vertical inlet and outlet passages are located high, above eye level of tall persons when standing inside or outside the room, and are shielded from view by vertical fascias so as to be not readily observable except from above them.

221 Filed United States Patent 72] Inventors Robert Haldon Jones;

Lennard Edward Nylin, San Jose, Calif.; Tor H. Olssen, Stockholm, Sweden816,442

Feb. 4, l 969 Division of Ser. No. 645,965, June 14, 1967, Pat No.3,452,369.

[21] Appl. No.

[45] Patented Feb. 16, 1971 [73] Assignee Viking Sauna Company San Jose,Calif.

[54] COMPACT SAUNA UNIT 4 Claims, 12 Drawing Figs. 52 user. 219/36471st) 9 8l 9 165154,]65/129;2l9/218,2l9/374 s11 lnt.Cl rat r 99;i-105b1/O0 [50] Field of Search 219/342, 365-368, 374-376, 377, 213,218; 4/160, 54; 165/55,129;98I87, 88, 98, 99.6

Primary ExaminerA. Bartis Attorney-Owen, Wickersham & Ericson ABSTRACT:A compact sauna unit, capable of use by one person alone is provided asa self-contained room having its own floor, ceiling, walls, and door,assembled reasonably snugly while enabling a small amount of leakage ofair from outside into the room at the joints between parts and aroundthe door. in the room is a seat to hold a person with his feet spacedwell above the floor. A heater unit is contained in the door andcomprises a housing defining a plurality of generally verticallyextending duets with air inlets at the lower end and air outlets at theupper end. One duct is an inner duct adjacent the inner surface of thedoor for keeping the inner surface of the housing cool; an outer ductlies adjacent the outer surface of the door for keeping that outersurface cool; and a central duct is sandwiched between the inner andouter ducts and separated from them by thin metal walls. Electrical rodheating means in said central duct supplies heat; in fact, the solesource of heating for the sauna unit, also serving to provide heat tothe inner and outer ducts through the thin metal duct' walls, forcausing upward movement of cooling air therethrough. There is an airexhaust conduit through the door, vertically above the heater unit, forexhausting a controlled amount of air from the room. Typically, the doorhas a window spaced above the heater unit, and the exhaust conduit isprovided along the upper edge of the window, comprising a horizontalconduit between a vertical inlet passage leading down from an inletabove the horizontal conduit and a vertical outlet passage leading up toan outlet above the horizontalconduit. The vertical inlet and outletpassages are located high, above eye level of tall persons when standinginside or outside the room, and are shielded from view by verticalfascias so as to be not readily observable except from above them.

PATENIEUFEE1$191I" 3564.201 SHEET 10F 4 I. r l I 'QA I 1 m vsiv r003 TORH OLSSEN R085!" n. JONES LEA/HARD e. NYUN PATENTEU FEB? 6 I97! I saw 2BF 4 COMPACT SAUNA UNIT This application is a division of applicationSer. No. 645,965, filed .Iune I4, 1967, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,452,369.

This invention relates to a sauna unit. Moreparticularly, it relates toa sauna room which is a self-constituted unit enabling a single personto take a sauna bath within a very small area. It also relates to anovel heater for a sauna room and to a novel air circulationsystemtherefor.

A sauna is a well-known Finnish high temperature bath tending to producea feeling of well-being and aiding a bather to relax. The humidity iskept low,-so that there is little sensation of heat in spite of the hightemperatures used, and there is none of the discomfort one experienceswith steam baths. The bather perspires copiously, thereby cleansing hisbody through the skin pores. The sauna bath is usually taken inconjunction with one or more shower baths and may involve two or threeexposures in the sauna room. A traditional Finnish sauna was a smalldetached building heated by a-wood-stoked fumace piled high with stonesto retain and radiate heat. The bath was usually a family matter, withseveral people taking the bath at once. Such units are unsuited tomodern American apartments and homes where space is at a premium andwhere only a single person uses the sauna at one time. Many things areneeded to be changed to adapt the sauna to urban American civilization;for example,a wood-stoked furnace is impractical and is better replacedby an electrical unit.

A basic problem to which this invention is directed is that'of providinga sauna installation which may be sold as a unit to provide the completesauna effect within a very small space and volume. It is difficult toadapt a sauna to confined spaces, because it is important for thetemperature within the room to be accurately controllable and to be heldevenly .within the room. It is also difficult to provide proper heatingand circulation without a rather large space separating the heaters fromthe bather.

The present invention overcomes these problems and provides a one-personsauna bath of high efficiency, good quality, and excellent results.

An important feature of the invention is the organization of the roomtoprovide maximum efficiency both in use and in manufacture.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sauna bath unit havingan effective, yet compact heating, venting and air circulating systemcapable of installation within the door of a small closetlike room.Also, quick and adequate heating and adequate venting and aircirculating are mandatory but conflicting objectives, and the inventorsachieve both these objectives within strict space and cost limitations.

Another object of the invention is to provide an air circulation systemfor a very small sauna bath unit, enabling the conservation of spacewithout impairing the sauna results.

Another object of the invention is to provide for such a sauna bath unita compact, efficient and safe electrical control system, also built intothe sauna room door.

In the drawings:

FIG. I is a view in perspective of a sauna bath unit embodying theprinciples of the invention, the door being shown in its open position.

FIG. 2 is a view in elevation and partly in section of the door of theunit of FIG. 1, some portions being removed to show the structure ofothers.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary and partially exploded view of the upper portionof the sauna room with the door fully closed.

FIG. 4 is a view in elevation and section of the sauna bath room, thesection being taken from front to rear with the door closed.

FIG. 5 is a view in section taken along the line 5-5 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of the electrical circuit of the unit of FIGS. 1-5.

FIG, 7 is an enlarged view in elevation, partly broken open and partlybroken in two, of the heating unit for the sauna room as installed inthe door.

FIG. 8 is a view in section taken along the line 8-8 in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the door, showingthe window and area around the window, some portions being broken away.

FIG. 10 is a view in section taken along the line 10-10 in FIG. 9, theportions broken away in FIG. 9 being restored.

FIG. 11 is a view in perspective of one-half of the window frame.

FIG. 12 is a view in perspective of the venting conduit or tubeinstalled at the top of the window for air circulation.

A sauna bath unit 20 is shown as a preferred embodiment of theinvention. The unit 20 comprises two sidewalls 21 and 22, a rear wall 23and a front wall 24 in which is hinged a door 25. There is also aceiling 26 and a floor 27. The four walls and the door and ceiling arepreferably made from especially constructed panels, lined with redwoodso as to provide good insulation qualities. The walls 21, 22, 23, 24 androof 26 may be hollow and filled with insulating material. The door 25and front panel 24 may be made from a panel that is initially similar tothe other walls, the door 25 being cut out from the panel and thenhinged back together. The walls are abutted and screwed together asshown in FIG. 3; the inner walls 28 stop short of the height of theouter walls 29 of the room so that the ceiling panel 26 can be droppedinto place, fitting snugly and resting on the upper end of the innerwalls 28 essentially flush with the top of the outer walls 29. The wallsare then secured together to provide a relatively rigid structure. Thefloor 27 is similarly held in place by the four walls 2i, 22, 23, and24.

There are two benches 30 and 3]; an upper bench 30 on which the bathersits and a lower bench 31 on which he rests his feet. These benches 30and- 31 are fitted into recesses 32 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) in the sidewalls21 and 22 and held by those walls. I

All of the heating and other electrical facilities are carried by thedoor 25, and this is an important feature of the invention, becausethereby a single panel carries all the needed components of the heatingsystem, air circulation and venting system, electrical control andtiming systems and the concealed heat limiting (safety) system. A powersupply line 35 is adapted to fit into a standard l20-volt IS-amp. houseline and to it are connected all the electrical circuit elements, asshown in FIG. 6, including a lamp 36 and thermostat 37, a control panel38, and a heater 40. Mounted in the door 25, particularlyrecessedtherein, the heating unit 40 comprises (see FIGS. 2 and 6-8) arectangular sheet metal housing 41 in which is a Calrod type of element42 disposed in a serpentine fashion having long vertical portionsconnected by curved portions at upper and lower extremities. If therewere nothing more, the unit 40 would not be satisfactory for tworeasons. In the first place, the element 42 would tend to overheat andwould not be safe, becoming atire hazard. In the second place, withoutsome way of causing adequate circulation, the

unit 40 would emit heat but therewould be no efficient dis tribution ofthe heat within the small room 20. The heating unit 40 and this door 25cooperate in this invention with the remainder of the unit 20 to providea circulation pattern.

As shown ,particularly in FIG. 8', the door 25 has a deep recess on itsinner side to provide a receptacle 43 for the unit 40. Within thisreceptacle 43 fits the metal outer housing 4|, somewhat spaced from therecess walls so that dead-air insulation is obtained between them.Within this housing 4l and spaced from it is another sheetmetal'receptacle 44 which supports the heating element 42 by insulators45. A baffle 46 is placed opposite the heating element 42, and a coverpanel 47, having lower and upper grills 48 and 49, is spaced from thebaffle 46. Between the innermost housing 41 and the receptacle 44 is anair passage 50, air entering through lower baffle openings 51 and ahorizontal clearance 52 and going up the entire height of the wall bythe passage 50 to a small upper chamber 53 and then issuing out by apassage 54 to the front of the unit. This provides a current of coolingair which keeps the door 25 from being overheated. The air brought in iscool and is never heated very much.

This structure is important, for without it, it would be difficult toput a sufficiently strong heating unit in the door 25.

Another current of air enters through the lower grill 48 and isseparated into two streams by' the baffle 46, one stream going into thespace 55 behind the baffle 46 and past the heating element 40. This airis heated quite hot and is relied upon for the main heat of the unit. Itis circulated partly by its own operation and partly by the othercurrents of air by which it is surrounded. it goes out through the uppergrille 49 from a small plenum chamber'56.

The second stream of air, entering the grille 48 ascends the space57between the baffle 46 and the outer panel 47, keepingthe outer panel 47cool, and is exhausted through the grille 49 after entering the smallplenum chamber 56. This pattern keeps the userfrom being burned if heshould touchthe panel 47 and makes the unit safe.

In addition to the circulation pattern of the heater itself, an

important factor in the overall circulation pattern is provided at thewindow assembly 60. it is'important to renew the air continually, and inorder to do thissome of the old air must be passed outside'This passageenables freshair to enter around "the perimeter of the door in theabsence of special perimeter stripping and sealing, which isdeliberately not done. It is not flange 64 therearound. A frame portion65 has a horizontal recess 66, and a frame portion 67 has a generallyvertical recess 68.,A metal spacer 70 fits in the recess 66 to providean air conduit. From the'front or back, particularly since the window60is high, very few people can see the ventilation system, and this is asafety feature because is prevents people from circumventing it. Even ifseen from above it is hardly discernible and does not encouragetampering; As shown in FIG. 10, most of the hot air goes-up past the,inner'flange 64, and only a portion of it passes back down through therecess 68 then across through the conduit 70 to the other recess 68 andup and out therethrough. This pattern has been'found to enable propersampling to give exactly the right amount of air circulation from insideto outside to maintain the device at its top eff ciencythermostatically.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, manychanges in construction and widely differing embodiments andapplications of the invention will suggest themselves without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invcntion. The disclosures and thedescription herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be inany sense limiting.

We claim: v

l. A heater unit forluse in a flat rectangular recess lying on one sideof an imperforate door of a sauna room, comprising:

a flat rectangular sheet metal housing for substantially filling saidrecess, said housing having: an imperforate rear plate lying in a singleplane for flush contactwith the door at the full depth of said recess;'

a front plate lying in a single plane parallel'to that of said.

rearplate and having upper and lower perforate portions and a centralimperforate portion; top, bottom, and sidewalls. all imperforate and allperpendicular to and joining said front and rear plates and shallow incomparison to them; forward-and rear interior sheet metal partitions inbetween said front plate and said rear plate defining a plurality ofgenerally vertically extending duct means, said forward partition lyingin asingle plane parallel to said front plate. said rear partitionhaving a lower horizontal portion parallel to saidbottom wall..a mainportion parallel to said rear plate. and an upper inclined portion; saidlower perforate portion of said front plate providing air inlet means atthe lower end of said housing;

said upper perforate portion of said front plate providing air outletmeans at the upper end of said housing;

both said air inlet means andsaid air outlet means lying on the sameface of said housing so that both can open into the interior of saidroom; I

said duct means providing a flat inner duct adapted to lie adjacent theinner surface of the door for keeping said rear plate cool, an outerduct adaptedto lie adjacent the outer surface of the door for keepingsaid front plate cool. and a central duct sandwiched between said innerand outer ducts and separated therefrom by the thin metal walls of saidpartitions; 7

said heater unit having electrical rod heating means in said centralduct lying in a single plane parallel to said front and rear plates andextending substantially the full height of the vertical portions of saidpartitions; and

the heat thereof serving to supply the sole source of heating for thesauna room and also serving to provide heat to said inner and outerducts through said thin metal walls for causing upward movement ofcooling air therethrough. I

2. A door for a sauna unit including in combination:

a door member having an inner surface and an outer surface and having aflat rectangular recess in said inner surface. there being no openingthrough said .door at said recess;

a heater unit contained substantially in said recess and comprising:

a flat rectangular sheet metal housing substantially filling said recessand having an imperforate planarrear plate in flush contact with thedoor at the back of said recess. a front planar plate parallel to saidrear plate and having upper and lower perforate portions and a centralimperforate portion. and shallow imperforate top. bottom. and sidewallsperpendicular to and joining said front and rear plates;

forward and rear interior sheet metal partitions in between said frontand rear plates. said forward partition being planar and parallel tosaid front plate and said rear partition having a major planar portionparallel to said rear plate, said housing and said partitions defining aplurality of generally vertically extending duct means;

said lower perforate portion of said front plate providing air inletmeans at the lower end of said housing and said upper perforate portionproviding'an outlet means at the upper end thereof, said duct meansproviding a Hat inner duct adjacentsaid rear plate for keeping said rearplate cool, a flat outer duct adjacent said front plate for keeping saidfront plate cool, and a central duct sandwiched between said inner andouter ducts and separated therefrom by the thin metal walls of saidpartitions;

electrical rod heating means lying in a flat plane in said central ductparallel to said partitions, the heat therefrom serving to supply thesole source of heating for the sauna unit and also serving to provideheat to said inner and outer ducts through said thin metal .walls ofsaidpartitions for causing upward, movement of cooling air therethrough;and

exhaust means through said door vertically above said "recess and saidheater ,unit for exhausting a controlled amount of air from said mom.said door heingothcrwisc imperforate.

3. The sauna unit of claim 2 wherein said door has a window spaced abovesaid heater unit, said exhaust means being provided along the upper edgeof said window and comprising a horizontal conduit between a verticalinlet passage leading from an inlet above said horizontal conduit and avertical outlet passage leading to an outlet above said horizontalconduit.

4. The saunaunit of claim 3 wherein said vertical inlet and outletpassages are located high, above eye level of tall persons when standinginside or outside said room. and are

1. A heater unit for use in a flat rectangular recess lying on one sideof an imperforate door of a sauna room, comprising: a flat rectangularsheet metal housing for substantially filling said recess, said housinghaving: an imperforate rear plate lying in a single plane for flushcontact with the door at the full depth of said recess; a front platelying in a single plane parallel to that of said rear plate and havingupper and lower perforate portions and a central imperforate portion;top, bottom, and sidewalls, all imperforate and all perpendicular to andjoining said front and rear plates and shallow in comparison to them;forward and rear interior sheet metal partitions in between said frontplate and said rear plate defining a plurality of generally verticallyextending duct means, said forward partition lying in a single planeparallel to said front plate, said rear partition having a lowerhorizontal portion parallel to said bottom wall, a main portion parallelto said rear plate, and an upper inclined portion; said lower perforateportion of said front plate providing air inlet means at the lower endof said housing; said upper perforate portion of said front plateproviding air outlet means at the upper end of said housing; both saidair inlet means and said air outlet means lying on the same face of saidhousing so that both can open into the interior of said room; said ductmeans providing a flat inner duct adapted to lie adjacent the innersurface of the door for keeping said rear plate cool, an outer ductadapted to lie adjacent the outer surface of the door for keeping saidfront plate cool, and a central duct sandwiched between said inner andouter ducts and separated therefrom by the thin metal walls of saidpartitions; said heater unit having electrical rod heating means in saidcentral duct lying in a single plane parallel to said front and rearplates and extending substantially the full height of the verticalportions of said partitions; and the heat thereof serving to supply thesole source of heating for the sauna room and also serving to provideheat to said inner and outer ducts through said thin metal walls forcausing upward movement of cooling air therethrough.
 2. A door for asauna unit including in combination: a door member having an innersurface and an outer surface and having a flat rectangular recess insaid inner surface, there being no opening through said door at saidrecess; a heater unit contained substantially in said recess andcomprising: a flat rectangular sheet metal housing substantially fillingsaid recess and having an imperforate planar rear plate in flush contactwith the door at the back of said recess, a front planar plate parallelto said rear plate and having upper and lower perforate portions and acentral imperforate portion, and shallow imperforate top, bottom, andsidewalls perpendicular to and joining said front and rear plates;forward and rear interior sheet metal partitions in between said frontand rear plates, said forward partition being planar and parallel tosaid front plate and said rear partition having a major planar portionparallel to said rear plate, said housing and said partitions defining aplurality of generally vertically extending duct means; said lowerperforate portion of said front plate providing air inlet means at thelower end of said housing and said upper perforate portion providing anoutlet means at the upper end thereof, said duct means providing a flatinner duct adjacent said rear plate for keeping said rear plate cool, aflat outer duct adjacent said front plate for keeping said front platecool, and a central duct sandwiched between said inner and outer ductsand separated therefrom by the thin metal walls of said partitions;electrical rod heating means lying in a flat plane in said central ductparallel to said partitions, the heat therefrom serving to supply thesole source of heating for the sauna unit and also serving to provideheat to said inner and outer ducts through said thin metal walls of saidpartitions for causing upward movement of cooling air therethrough; andexhaust means through said door vertically above said recess and saidheater unit for exhausting a controlled amount of air from said room,said door being otherwise imperforate.
 3. The sauna unit of claim 2wherein said door has a window spaced above said heater unit, saidexhaust means being provided along the upper edge of said window andcomprising a horizontal conduit between a vertical inlet passage leadingfrom an inlet above said horizontal conduit and a vertical outletpassage leading to an outlet above said horizontal conduit.
 4. The saunaunit of claim 3 wherein said vertical inlet and outlet passages arelocated high, above eye level of tall persons when standing inside oroutside said room, and are covered by vertical fascias so as to be notreadily observable except from above them.